Apple Campus 2 to Open

When one thinks of Silicon Valley, one aspect that they may think of that is companies often need to expand. Traditionally, when this is done, existing office buildings are purchased by companies and employees are moved in. As one might expect, Apple likes to think a bit different and wanted to not continue the practice of buying up buildings. In 2011, one of the last public presentations that former CEO Steve Jobs did was to present the Cupertino City Council in support of their new Apple Campus. Apple has given a name to their Campus 2. They have named it “Apple Park”.

In 2010/2011, Apple purchased approximately 150 acres of land. The land was previously owned by Hewlett Packard’s computer division, which is where Steve Jobs also held one of his summer jobs.

One of the features of the Campus 2 is that houses 12,000 employees all within one building. As Steve Jobs stated within his presentation to the Cupertino City Council, the traditional Office Parks that are around the Silicon Valley area are drab and just a bunch of buildings. This is not what Apple had envisioned for their new Campus.

20% of Apple’s current campus at 1 Infinite Loop is landscaping. With Apple Park, approximately 80% of the 150 acres is landscaping, including a giant courtyard in the middle of the building. The number of trees at the 1 Infinite Loop Campus is approximately 3700. With Apple Park, it will be around 9000. Some of these trees would be Apricot Trees, which used to be on the land when HP bought the land.

One of the Council members asked if the city would get “Free Wifi”, and Steve Jobs mentioned that Apple offers more than just free wifi, although if Apple would get out of paying taxes, then they would be happy to provide free wifi to Cupertino.

Apple has announced that their Apple Park will open to employees in April. One of the features of Apple Park will be the 1000 seat theater that is at one of the highest points of the campus. In honor of the legacy that Jobs had on the company, the new theater will be called the “Steve Jobs Theater”.

It is not known when Apple Park will open for the public. There is an Apple Store, cafe open to the public, and a visitor’s center. It is likely that Apple will hold a presentation at Apple Park at some point in the year.

If you have a chance to visit Apple Park when it is open, it would be a site to see.